#ifndef __GLOBAL_VARIABLES_H__
  #define __GLOBAL_VARIABLES_H__

#include <string>

using namespace std;

//! global empty string used to avoid performance penalty of string creation(s)
extern const string global_empty_string; // declared here, defined in the global_variables.cpp file
extern const string sign_symbols;        // mathematics sign symbols "+-"

// BOM (Byte Order Marker) encoding(s)
extern const char utf8_bom_encoding[];
extern const char ucs2_big_endian_bom_encoding[];
extern const char ucs2_little_endian_bom_encoding[];

#endif
